Old Cathedral to Undergo $12M Renovation

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) — The Old Cathedral downtown is about to get a facelift.

The last big renovation work done on the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, according to associate pastor Father Richard Quirk, was in 1960. Now, he says, crews will soon restore as much of both the exterior and interior of the historic building as possible.

“Pretty immediately we’ll be putting up scaffolding to start on the stone work on the exterior,” said Father Quirk.

The first phase of this $12 million project is stone restoration and window replacement which will be funded completely by private donations. Later, restoration of the wooden floors and pews, along with repair of the tile mosaic floor around the altar, plus a potential museum expansion.

“This is a great opportunity, as more and more people are attracted to the arch grounds to see where the Catholic faith originated, so to speak,” said Quirk. “Not just in St. Louis but it was the church from which everyone went to the west.”